More Canadians Turning to Mortgage Brokers

A report released this week by Deloitte shows a significant rise in the number of home buyers who choose to use a mortgage broker to negotiate their home loans.

The report says that 38 percent of mortgages in Canada were generated by mortgage brokers in 2009, up from 26 percent in 2003. Brokers are most popular among first-time buyers – with 44 percent of originations coming from this group.

Unlike Canada, the U.S. has seen its mortgage broker industry implode under the weight of the sub-prime lending fiasco and housing market collapse. Until that point, mortgage brokers in the U.S. had grown to represent about two thirds of the lending market.

The report illustrates the growth potential for mortgage brokerage business in Canada, where we have more stringent lending and credit verification practices.